The entertainment industry is giving us hell

Plato said: “Those who tell the stories rule society.”

The images and stories that top the list of influences in our culture are packaged by Hollywood and the entertainment industry in the form of movies, music, pornography, and gambling. These “recreational” exhibits are shaping the values ​​and character of our culture and, more subtly, our next generation.

The film in the camera of our mind portrays the choice of our exposure. Like a movie, we reflect the image of what we “click”. The imprint is indelibly set to mold and shape our mind, emotions and behavior. We become what we choose to see and think. Our god is what concerns our thoughts and shapes our choices and values.

The profound impact of story content and images on the minds and psyche of our culture, particularly our young people, has far-reaching implications. We are being shaped more by our culture than we are molding and shaping our culture. The drift is rudderless in a sea of ​​uncertainty only blowing in the wind at the mercy of the current.

On a recent trip to Asia, I ran into a trader who asked, “Are all Americans rich, greedy, and sex crazy?” I asked him where he got that idea from, and he said, “TV, movies, and the Internet.” This perception or misperception, however you look at it, is a reality for them and now it is coming back to bite us like a giant viper. “Our entertainment industry is the number one culprit,” according to Mortimer Zuckerman, editor of US News and World Report.

The entertainment industry is driven by what it sells. The images projected by pornography, promiscuity, arrogance, greed, and moral decay leave a residual odor wafting through the world that clouds the virtues of liberty, democracy, and opportunity. The lost values ​​of what is good, pure, true and noble have given us an image of the dark side obscuring our virtues.

President Obama said at Hampton University in southeastern Virginia, “iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations become a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than an empowerment tool, rather than a means of of emancipation”.

America, once the envy of the world, has become the enmity of the world? Should we be surprised by the growing hatred and attacks on the United States? Have we not given Al-Qaeda the reason for its violent revolutionary theory and practice? Our democratic message of freedom without responsibility and moral substance seems hollow and hypocritical.

The PEW Research Center released its thirteen-country survey that clearly shows America’s declining image. “The favorable opinion of the United States has fallen in most of the countries surveyed. It has fallen most dramatically in Europe, India, Indonesia and especially in the Middle Eastern countries.”

Listen and you will hear the foreign voices saying, as I have: “You Americans are preoccupied with pleasure. Your families are falling apart. You create and sell pornography. Your crime rates per capita top the world charts. They seem self-righteous, greedy and arrogant thugs.” We have helped promote bin Laden’s propaganda and given him a weapon to recruit terrorists around the world.

America has been at its best in times of great challenge. We forge a future of hope, not with our poverty of creativity and imagination, but with the passion to turn our problems into opportunities. America’s image can be restored with friendships that refute misperceptions of Hollywood fantasy as reality. How do you eat an elephant?–one bite at a time. How do we replace our bad image around the world? We engage in intercultural relationships, one person or family at a time. We can also give Hollywood a message in its pocket to improve the content of its stories to build characters with lasting values ​​and virtues.

Arnold Toynbee said, “All it takes for the forces of evil to win in the world is enough good people to do nothing.” As individuals we can’t do everything, but everyone can do something. If not you, who? If not now when? We can shape the course of events that shape our image and influence our culture and that of others. The Bible, the best-selling book in the world, but often the least read, tells us: “In short, friends, I would say that you will do better if you fill your minds and meditate on things that are true, noble, respectable, authentic, convincing.” , graceful, the best, not the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

One of our family’s most treasured experiences is volunteering as a host family for foreign students studying at nearby colleges and universities. It is as if the world came to our door. It brings world history, geography, language, culture to life. The exchange has great educational value and forges lasting friendships that last a lifetime. Our children were motivated to understand other cultures, travel and study, which has enriched their lives. The true character of an ordinary family can do more to create a true image of goodwill in contrast to the counterculture that Hollywood often projects.

American families, as goodwill ambassadors, can inquire through their local service clubs, places of worship, international relief and development organizations how to establish a cross-cultural relationship with an individual or family in almost any part of the world.

Imagine the impact of every American doing one small thing every day to make a difference in their neighborhood, community, country, and world! We can recover what has been lost. Together we can create a whole new reality show of America the beautiful for the world to see. Imagine Hollywood on a new mission to restore character virtues and the triumph of good over evil. It has been done, it must be done and it can be done. Done right, it will sell and provide a much-needed image adjustment for the US.

A proven method of education is “don’t tell me, show me.” This is the show we must put on. Give up an hour of TV or a trip to the casino for one relationship-building hour a week and see what a big difference you can make to yourself and others. Make that phone call to your local university, place of worship, service club, or international nonprofit organization today and connect with an international student or family. Visit the websites and email links and join the revolution to restore the real picture of America’s true greatness, freedom and democracy.

Hollywood and the entertainment industry will take notice when we send them an economic message by not patronizing their obscenity and greed for the dark side. Our united voice along with the demand for creative alternatives and enlightened entertainment can displace the growing darkness. As responsible citizens, can we afford to do anything less?